25. Journey to the Marches Report

General Summary

12th Dravago 998 YK

• They sleep

• The party sells some more stuff, and then goes and collects the money that Lhara owes them for the books they gave her. 975 gp!
• The party heads down to the docks and meet with Vennet d'Lyrandar. They each pay him the 25 gp fee and then board the Lightning on Water.
• On the first day, Vennet comes to eat with the party and asks them if they have any stories. Warden tells him his backstory, leaving out the spicier bits.
• Vennet tells them he was at Narath when Aundair razed it.
• He also tells them he has frequent business with a half orc named Natrac in Zarash'ak.

• About halfway through the third day, the ship is boarded by a Sahuagin, and the waters around the ship are teeming with sharks. Dax' Athla goes to draw her weapon but Vennet tells her to hold, and then converses with the Sahuagin in it's own language.
• Vennet hands the sahuagin a pouch full of coins, and the sahuagin states that this will appease Shargon. Then it leaves.
• Terfel knows that Shargon is another name for the Devourer of the Dark Six.

• The rest of the journey is uneventful, and the party arrive in Zarash'ak.

• They spent some time asking around for Natrac, the people know him but they haven't seen him in some time.
• They inquire about the Bonetree Clan and the Bonetree Mound. Some of the travelling orcs know of the bonetree clan, but not where they are based. They're bad news, one of the hostile tribes.
• Whilst they are asking around, Warden notices that they are being followed by a frog. Dax picks up the frog, and carries it around all day.
• There is some discussion of hiring a guide for the swamp. House Tharashk are too expensive, costing 12 gp per day. Other guides are potentially too unreliable, they need to think about it.
• In the evening, the frog stays in the common room of the Moldy Banjo with them.

• In the morning, Warden casts speak with animals and speaks to the frog.
• The frog's name is Bartholomew, it's a friend of Batul's who has been looking for them.
• Bartholomew knows the way to the Fat Tusk tribe, to meet up with Geth. He will lead them, he can point.
• He warns them that there is a dragon, they are likely to encounter it. If they don't help, many orcs die. If they do help, still many orcs die, but not so many.
• The spell runs out and they devise a system to communicate with Bartholomew. He taps once for yes, twice for no.
• They ask if the dragon is young, Bartholomew taps three times.
• Three means he doesn't know.
• All they know is that the dragon is copper scaled, big enough to throw down with an Earth Elemental (as Warden witnessed at Bull Hollow)
• They must prepare.